Category: Current Affairs

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced a package of Rs. 120 crore for restoration of ravaged Leh and promised its inhabitants that all the damaged houses would be rebuilt before the onset of winter.

Following a day long visit to this region that was ravaged by flash floods, Dr. Singh announced the package from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for reconstruction of the town and neighbouring villages.

The Congress Working Committee while clearing all decks for electing Sonia Gandhi as the party president at a meeting on Monday, took digs at two of its important allies in the UPA alliance ruling the country.

The two allies targeted are Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir which has seen a revival of violence in recent times and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who has stormed into the Maoists stronghold holding the banner of peace.

Despite an all party consensus to hike the salary of MPs, the Union Cabinet today deferred a decision on this as a result of which the Bill scheduled to be introduced in the Parliament this week will be deferred.

At the moment an MP gets Rs. 16,000 as a monthly salary while a secretary to the government is paid Rs. 80,000 per month. Given this disparity, it was proposed to increase the MPs salary to at least Rs. 50,000 per month.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his Independence Day address to the nation urged Maoists and Kashmiri separatists to enter into a dialogue with the government, while at the same time warned neighbouring Pakistan to stop abetting terrorists.

While appealing to Naxalites to give up violence and enter into a dialogue, the Prime Minister also asserted that the government firmly deal with any violence and called for closer co-ordination between the Centre and States facing Naxalites problem.

Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdulla joined the ranks of then USA President George Bush, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Home Minister P C Chidambaram, when a disgruntled policemen placed under suspension flung a boot at him at the Independence Day rally.

As Omar rose to deliver his address, Abdul Ahad Jan a policeman under suspension who was seated in the third row of the VIP gallery removed his shoe and flung it at the Chief Minister. However, the shoe missed its target and security personnel were quick to pick up Abdul.

India has found more evidence of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence interfering with the country’s affairs following the evidence gathered by Bangalore police of ISI using gangsters to contact the Naxalites in India.

Bangalore police thwarted an attempt by Chota Shakeel’s gang to ferment trouble in South India through the Naxalites who have been wrecking havoc in Northern India where law and order has become an issue.

In a joint operation with the Andhra Pradesh Police, the Bangalore police foiled the attempt and arrested five persons from whom it is learnt that Chhota Shakeel was acting on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim who is known to have close links with the ISI.

For the next academic year, there will be only one common entrance test for the medical seats in the country disclosed the Union Ministry of Health to the Supreme Court. This would mean that there will be only one entrance exam for the over 30,000 MBBS seats and over 11,000 MD seats in the government and medical colleges in the country.

Hitherto students aspiring to take up medicine had to answer at least five or six entrance exams for the various colleges in the country and had to undergo tremendous stress co-ordinating the travel to the examination centres besides also worrying about clash of dates of examinations.

Healthcare experts in Bangalore smelled a rat in the warning of an antibiotic-resistant Indian superbug going endemic which hit the world headlines yesterday.

While some said the report was an exaggeration and propaganda to kill medical tourism in the country, others termed it a ploy by multinational pharma companies to introduce more drugs and stronger antibiotics into the Indian market.

“We can expect more ‘superbugs and superviruses’ linked to India. This is just the beginning and a lot more is yet to happen to the Indian healthcare industry which is emerging as a medical tourism destination,” said Dr Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya.

The Opposition and OBC parties mounted pressure on the union government to take up the caste headcount in the second phase of the census exercise, instead of the biometric stage.

After an uproar led by the members belonging to the OBC in the Lok Sabha, leaders of BJP, SP, JD-U, RJD and BSP met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram. They told the ministers that taking up caste census in the biometric stage would defeat the purpose as it would be a long-drawn process.

According to sources, the two leaders said that they will place the proposal of caste enumeration during the second phase before the Cabinet. The Opposition is confident that the government will find it difficult to turn down its demand on the premise that it cannot afford to anger ‘Backward Classes’.